Selection Criteria

In order to identify the social entrepreneurs within Ashoka's global Fellowship with the greatest potential for global social impact, the Globalizer team circulated the following questions throughout the network in October 2009.  The questions focus on two key issues - whether or not "going global" should be a priority at all for a given social innovation and, if so, whether the social entrepreneur in question is ready to embark on a journey of global scaling.

WHY GO GLOBAL?

• Describe your central innovation – what social problems does it address, what systems does it seek to transform, and how?
• Where has your innovation succeeded to date? Describe the key factors which have enabled its success in these contexts?
• To what extent are you already engaged in changing systems at a global level?

Global Social Impact

• Describe the full potential impact of your idea - how many people, in which demographic segments, in which countries and regions could potentially benefit from this innovation?
• Explain your rationale for determining which countries/populations your innovation would and would not target at its full global potential.
• Describe how "going global" would allow your project to reach critical scale, achieving greater impact across its entire target population rather than simply reaching a larger number of people.

WHY NOW?

Entrepreneurial Strategy

• Describe your global scaling strategy – how will you expand your innovation’s impact to reach its full potential audience?
• What model(s) of growth will you leverage to achieve this scale – organizational expansion, partnerships, franchising, concept replication, idea dissemination...?
• Where does your financial support come from now? How much capital do you anticipate will be needed to scale up globally (over the next five years), and how do you plan to secure these finances?
• Who are your current collaborators and competitors? How would this change at the global scale?

Organizational Readiness

• Describe your organization as it currently exists, and as you see it existing at full global scale – people, budget, geographic scope, etc. How long will this growth process take?
• Explain how you plan to adapt your current management practices to be create a high-performing organization at global scale – in terms of decision-making, personnel management, organizational culture, etc.
• Which aspects of global scaling will be most challenging for your organization? Where do you anticipate needing the most external assistance, and what types of assistance will this likely be?